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Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

When their freshman season ended with a loss in the 2013 national title game, there was no cool-down time.

McGary and Robinson had only a few weeks to decide whether to enter the NBA draft. After watching sophomore Trey Burke and junior Tim Hardaway Jr. choose to leave, both decided to return.

Their expected draft status was based on a small sample size as freshmen. They expected to rate higher with another year of college — the same decision Burke and Hardaway had made in previous years.

A year later, McGary and Robinson are older and wiser — but there are far more questions about both players’ pro potential, with their sophomore seasons having veered from what they expected.

As McGary, Robinson and teammate Nik Stauskas get ready to announce their NBA draft decisions in the next week or two, one year has made a big difference. All applied to the NBA draft advisory board for evaluation. Here’s a look at each player:

■ ROBINSON:One of Robinson’s reasons for returning was to show off his small forward skills after playing at power forward as an undersized freshman. But when McGary suffered an injured back in the summer and had surgery in December, Robinson never got that chance.

“At the beginning of the season, things weren’t going right. I was going to play the three. Coach (John Beilein) decided we wanted me back at the four when Mitch got hurt, so I was kind of upset a little bit about that and was kind of questioning my decision to come back,” Robinson said before the Elite Eight.

Though Robinson got stronger, his overall game didn’t change dramatically. He remained an athletic marvel, outstanding in the open court, and a stronger, better defender. But his shooting percentage, three-point percentage and rebounds fell this season.

That the draft is expected to be deeper this year doesn’t help.

“It’s a tough situation,” Draftexpress.com guru Jonathan Givony said. “You can be a top-20 pick and get exposed in the NBA, or come back to school and get exposed in school until you improve. If you’re not a lottery pick, they’ll give up on you really fast. … Where he is now, he’s in a big pool of guys that are potential first-round picks. He’s a 20-to-40 guy.”

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■ MCGARY: Before the 2013 NCAA tournament, McGary had not even considered leaving after one year. The whirlwind attention following his six-game run was a lot to consider and the safer move was to return for his sophomore year.

At 6-feet-10 and 250 pounds plus, with superior big-man passing skills, the ability to run the floor and rebound, he figured a strong sophomore year could push him into an elite pick.

But then McGary mysteriously suffered an injured back in August. He rehabbed slowly for two months, opted to put off surgery and played through pain for eight games, showing flashes of his skills. Then he had surgery in December, ending his season.

McGary said a few weeks ago that he had lost 20 pounds and was near last season’s playing weight. He could run and move, but he wasn’t taking contact yet, and his primary limitation was that he wasn’t in aerobic shape for a game.

He still has another month or two to get in shape before he would need to work out for NBA teams. McGary said he’ll evaluate where he is mentally and especially physically. Last week he said he’s not ready to play on that “next level.”

Though another college year could help him — Givony said he could see McGary, if healthy, as a top 15-20 pick because athletic talented big men are so rare — he has a few factors pushing him toward leaving early, including his age, 22 at the time of this year’s draft.

“There just aren’t that many guys who are 6-10, with that kind of body, mobile and will compete the way he does, and I thought he was playing pretty well in those eight games,” Givony said. “He’s been hurt a couple times … I don’t know what the physical is going to say.”

■ STAUSKAS:He followed the Burke playbook. Get noticed as a freshman, remake your body entering the sophomore season and answer all the draft evaluators’ questions.

“I showed signs of it last year, but that wasn’t really my role on the team with the guys that we had, with Trey and Tim leading that team,” Stauskas said before the Sweet 16. “So I worked on those things in the off-season. My ballhandling and things like that. But I think the main thing that’s changed is just my role on the team and what the coaches have asked me to do.”

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Stauskas’ greatest skill — shooting — never wavered as he hit 47% from the field, increasing his field-goal percentage despite taking three more shots per game.

But it’s the rest of his game that has the experts projecting him around the 15th pick, on the fringe of the lottery. He was the top draftable shooting guard in TNT analyst David Aldridge’s list released this week.

“He was a little bit one-dimensional as a freshman and a liability defensively,” Givony said. “Especially late in the year they wouldn’t play him because he was struggling. He showed that he’s more than just a shooter. He can play pick-and-roll. He can create for others. He seemed a lot more athletic than you think. He’s still not a great defender, but you feel like you can live with that a little bit considering all the other things he brings to the table.”

Aside from his lifelong obsession with the NBA, Stauskas offered another hint last week when he told a Toronto radio station he was “taking meetings” when he was home in Mississauga, Ontario, perhaps indicating agent interviews.

The chances of Stauskas returning to school are slim. Beilein has said — as with Burke last year — if the NBA advisory feedback is solidly high in the first round, he’ll encourage players to leave.